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Phono preamp selection

So my budged dropped to about $1,000 for a preamp, which will be matched with the VPI Classic, Lyra Delos cart and Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum tube amp. The usual suspect and main candidates are:

1. Heed Audio Quasar
2. PS Audio GCPH
3. Sutherland Ph3D
4. Musical Surroundings Nova Phonomena

Heed is the only preamp I can probably audition. I've heard good things about all four, but I am intrigued by the battery powered units, which remove any issues with the power supply. All four pretty much offer as much flexibility as one might need. I find the Nova manual very confusing regarding the gain and load setting, which turned me off to it, but otherwise sounds great. The GCPH modded is apparently absolutely incredible, but it's outside of my price range at the moment. I feel sort of weird about the Sutherland being powered by D-cell batteries.

I'd love to hear your recommendations and opinions. Thank you.
actusreus
actusreus OP
733 posts
 
Thank you all for great suggestions and advice.

213cobra, do you have the Jasmine? If you read on Musical Surroundings website, they rather strongly criticize preamps that offer too much gain for the job. Apparently, the unit works much harder than it needs to at the cost of sound neutrality. The Delos needs only 55 dB of gain according to the KAB calculator. 70 dB sounds way too much and it's not adjustable on the Jasmine; 55 dB for MM carts apparently didn't work too well for a Lyra MC cart a reviewer was using. I'd also prefer to have a 47k Ohms load setting for the cart since Jon Carr suggests experimenting with a wide range of load settings for Lyra carts. What cartridge are you using, if you are, to be so confident the Jasmine outperforms the other preamps? Considering how many positive reviews the other units have got, that's quite a ballsy statement!
downunder
1,329 posts
 
Agree with jdolgin

a s/h EAR 834P will be a hwole lot more musically satifying than the other units. It also has the ability to sound better as your system gets better.

Roll in a couple of mullard tubes and your EAR steps it up a couple more notches.
actusreus OP
733 posts
 
It's hard to argue with 834P reviews, which are all stellar, but one thing that kind of bothers me with this preamp is the fact that it has a load of 6 Ohms for MC carts, only. I've been told by owners that the Delos works best at around 200 Ohm setting, and I would ideally like to have an option to experiment with load settings. That said, I've never heard this being an issue with the 834P, so I wonder what's really going on with the resistive loading of moving coil cartridges. Is this some sort of a myth or illusion?
jaspert
157 posts
 
EAR 834P is a safe bet. Love mine with various NOS MMs I play.
Nova Phonomena ( I have a Supernova which is much and much the same in sound) is a bit more neutral and less euphonic, had various loading and gain option but I still prefer the EAR for MM or Allnic H1500SE for LOMC in general.

I also had the stock GCPH in the past and it's a well built unit but mediocre sound at best. Wonder what the reviewers were on.

Where as I think Ray Samuel Nighthawk F117 is much better for less money. This thing is very, very good for the money.
slaw's avatar
slaw
21,476 posts
 
Just a friendly note... I've owned an EAR 834 P (black) w/ volume for several years, and the RCA jacks work loose( the outer portion ie.. ground). I love the unit but for the price and Tim's reputation, this shouldn't even be an issue.
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